How to Get Featured on Instagram

Getting your content featured on Instagram can feel like winning the lottery, but it’s far less about luck and much more about strategy. This isn't just about getting a shoutout from Instagram's official account, it’s about getting your work showcased by major brands, popular community pages, and landing on the coveted Explore page. This guide will walk you through the practical, no-fluff steps to create feature-worthy content and put it in front of the right people.

Establishing the Foundation: Create Content Worth Featuring

Before you even think about hashtags or tagging accounts, your content has to be top-tier. Feature pages and brands are curators, their goal is to share the absolute best content within their niche. If your work doesn't meet that standard, no amount of tagging will help. Here’s how to build a feature-worthy foundation.

Nail the Technicals: Quality is Non-Negotiable

Low-resolution images and shaky, poorly-lit videos don’t get featured. Period. You don't need a thousand-dollar camera, but you do need to understand the basics of creating clean, professional-looking content.

• Good Lighting: Natural light is your best friend. Shoot during the "golden hours" - the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset - for soft, flattering light. If shooting indoors, position your subject near a window or use a simple ring light.
• Clear Composition: Understand basic composition rules like the rule of thirds. Your subject should be sharp and in focus. Avoid busy or distracting backgrounds that take away from what you’re trying to show.
• High Resolution: Always upload the highest quality version of your photos and videos. Instagram compresses media, so starting with a high-res file gives you the best chance of it looking crisp on the feed.

Define and Dominate Your Niche

General-purpose "lifestyle" accounts are notoriously difficult to get featured because they don't fit into a specific community. Feature accounts are built around themes: travel, homemade pasta, minimalist design, van life, street photography, etc. Pick a lane and become known for it.

Why is this so important? A feature account like @beautifuldestinations is looking for breathtaking travel content, not a picture of your latte. A food account like @tastingtable wants drool-worthy recipe videos, not your weekend hiking trip. When your entire grid is dedicated to a specific theme, it instantly signals to curators that you are an authority in that space, making their decision to feature you much easier.

Go Beyond Pretty Pictures: Tell a Story

A technically perfect photo is great, but content that tells a story and evokes emotion is what truly stands out. Featurable content makes people feel something - inspired, hungry, nostalgic, motivated. This storytelling happens in two places:

• The Visual: Does your image or video capture a moment in time? A candid laugh is often more powerful than a posed smile. A behind-the-scenes look at how you created something is more engaging than just the final product.
• The Caption: Your caption is your chance to add context and personality. Share the "why" behind the post. Talk about the struggle you overcame, the funny thing that happened just out of frame, a tip that could help your audience, or ask an engaging question. Long, heartfelt captions often create the connection that makes a post shareable.

The Active Strategy: How to Get Eyes on Your Work

Once your content is undeniably good, it’s time to be proactive. Creating amazing content is only half the battle, you also have to make sure the right people see it. This involves targeted research, an intelligent hashtag strategy, and genuine community engagement.

Find and Target the Right Feature Accounts

Don't just tag any large account you can find. You need to identify the community hubs and brand pages that are most relevant to what you do.

How to Find Them:

• Simple Search: Go to the Instagram search bar and type in "[Your Niche] community" or "[Your Niche] feature." For example, "street photography community" or "vegan recipes feature."
• Study Other Creators: Look at creators in your niche who you admire. Where are they getting featured? Check their "tagged" posts and see which feature pages are sharing their work. Make a list of these accounts.
• Check Submission Guidelines: Once you have a list, go to each account's profile. Most legitimate feature accounts have clear instructions in their bio, telling you exactly which hashtag to use and who to tag for a chance to be featured. Ignore any account that asks for money to be featured - those are scams.

Pro Tip: Keep a running list of 15-20 target feature accounts in a spreadsheet or a notes app, along with their specific feature hashtags. This makes the tagging process much more efficient.

Master Your Hashtag and Tagging Game

Hashtags aren't just for discoverability, they are the primary submission tool for most feature accounts. Your goal is to use a combination of broad, niche, and community-specific tags.

• Brand and Community Hashtags: This is the most direct way to submit your content. Feature accounts almost always have a branded hashtag they monitor, like #earthfocus or #createscenery. Look for it in their bio. Using their official hashtag is like putting your photo directly into their submission folder.
• Tag Accounts Directly: Don't just mention the account in your caption. Use the "Tag People" feature to tag the account directly on your photo or video. This sends them a notification and puts your post in their "tagged" section, increasing the chance they'll see it. Tagging in both the photo and the caption is a best practice.
• Don’t Spam: Only tag accounts that are relevant to your content. Tagging a food account on your travel selfie is a quick way to get ignored or even blocked. Be respectful and strategic.

Engage Authentically, Don't Just Post and Ghost

Feature accounts are often run by real people who are passionate about the community they've built. They notice users who are active, supportive members. You'll have a much better chance of getting on their radar if you do more than just use their hashtag.

Treat them like any other creator you admire. Follow them. Leave genuine, thoughtful comments on the content they post (both their own and the content they feature). Share their posts to your Stories. When they see your name pop up consistently with thoughtful engagement, they're much more likely to remember you when they see your content in their submission feed. It shows you value their community, not just the exposure they can give you.

Playing the Long Game: Getting Favored by the Algorithm

Besides being featured by other accounts, you can also be featured by Instagram itself, primarily through the Explore page and the Reels feed. This is less about direct submissions and more about creating content that the algorithm loves and wants to push to new audiences.

How to Crack the Explore Page

The Explore page is your biggest opportunity for organic reach. It’s a personalized collection of content Instagram thinks you will like based on your past behavior. Getting on someone’s Explore page means you’ve created content that highly resonates with people who have similar interests to your existing followers.

• Niche Down Hard: The algorithm needs to understand what your account is about. If you post about travel, vegan food, and dog training all at once, Instagram doesn't know who to show your content to. But if you only post about dog training, it quickly learns to show your content to other people interested in dogs.
• Generate Early Engagement: The algorithm uses the initial performance of your post as a signal. If your post gets a lot of likes, comments, shares, and especially saves within the first few hours of being published, Instagram views it as high-quality content and is more likely to push it to a wider audience via the Explore page.
• Use Specific Keywords: Instagram's search is becoming more effective. Use clear, descriptive keywords in your captions, on-screen text, and Alt Text. Instead of just "nice view," write "Hiking to the summit for a beautiful sunrise over Yosemite Valley." This helps Instagram categorize your content correctly.

Creating Reels That Get Pushed

Reels are one of the most powerful tools for reach right now, and getting a Reel featured in the main feed can be game-changing. The algorithm prioritizes Reels that people watch all the way through - or even multiple times.

• Hook Them in 3 Seconds: Your opening is everything. Start with immediate action, a provocative question on screen ("You're making your coffee all wrong"), or a visually stunning transition. You have to give people a reason not to scroll.
• Use Trending Audio and Effects: The algorithm actively favors Reels that use trending audio or the latest filters and effects. However, don’t just copy a trend. Find a way to apply the trending sound or format to your specific niche. This combination of timeliness and originality is powerful.
• Focus on Shares and Saves: If your Reel teaches someone something, provides a useful tip, or offers inspiration, it’s more likely to be saved or shared. These metrics are huge signals to the algorithm that your content is valuable. Provide clear, tangible value.

Final Thoughts

Getting featured on Instagram boils down to a clear, repeatable process: consistently produce high-quality, niche-specific content that tells a story, and then strategically put it in front of the right curators and brands. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and requires patience and a commitment to genuine community building rather than chasing quick shoutouts.

We know that keeping up that consistency is often the hardest part. Between creating content, engaging with followers, and finding feature opportunities, it’s easy to feel stretched thin. We built Postbase to solve this very problem. Having designed Postbase from the ground up to support modern formats like Reels and Stories, scheduling your feature-worthy content is seamless. Our visual calendar gives you a clear view of your strategy, so you can focus your creative energy on making incredible content instead of losing time wrestling with your schedule.